Christmas Mantle 2013

    Hi friends.  Thanksgiving 2013 is in the books and now onto the mad Christmas rush.  We celebrated Thanksgiving at my brother Matt's home near the Twin Cities.    It has become our family tradition.  This year Matt and his wife Bridget hosted 45 guests.  It's busy, loud and lots of fun!  Oh did I happen to mention I have a very large family and that my brother has a heated and very beautiful 3 car garage that they are able to set up in.    Now onto my Christmas mantle.  I found this very old window frame  and decided to clean it up and take it from there.   I already had everything I needed to decorate it with in my Christmas stash.

I wanted some new stockings that had a rustic, cozy and country Christmas feel to them.  After looking at how expensive the ones I wanted were,  I decided I would just make my own.   The front of the stockings have a burlap cuff and the back are made of felt. I found the patchwork looking fabric for the front's on clearance, and I knew right away it was just what I was looking for.

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Thanks Debbie @ Confessions of a Plate Addict for providing an easy to follow stocking tutorial.

And my favorite shot with a nice cozy fire going.  
Some of the details:  My frame was free!  The child skates and old wooden box were $2 garage sale finds. The stockings cost about $3 each to make. The berry wreath was an after Christmas sale and it was only $2 . The cute reindeer was purchased a few Christmas's ago at Pier 1.  I think they still have them.
Everything else was already in my Christmas stash.
So next up...finding that perfect Christmas tree.

joining

Met. Monday @ Between Naps on the Porch

Tablescaper for Seasonal Sunday

Inspire me Tuesday @ at Stroll thru life

Tweak it Tuesday @ Cozy Little House

The Scoop @ Confessions of a plate addict

Simple pillow tutorial

I've been on a sewing kick lately.  Not  complicated projects, but several smaller ones.

I love new pillows but I don't like the price of the ones I usually want.

I bought this fabric last summer when it was on sale. 

I love the pastorial scene. 

For my pillow project I am using a 18x18  down filled pillow form.

I cut one panel for the front of my pillow.

I cut it 18" by 18" for a snug fit.

You will need two panels for the back.  I used a navy cotton that I had on hand. Cut one panel the width of your pillow and add 6 inches.  For mine it is 18 + 6 for a total of 24".  Cut the length the same as your pillow.  Then cut the piece in half.  

Next step.

Make a fold on the length of your fabric, about a  half inch and iron.

Do this for both pieces.

Then sew each panel along the fold.

Now your ready to pin your pieces, right sides together.

One panel will overlap the other in the center.

Then sew close to the edges around the entire outside of the pillow.

Now iron, trim your edges and turn your pillow case right side out.

 It will look like this.

 Insert your pillow and ..

there you have it!  I made two, cutting the panels from different sections of the fabric.

Not hard at all.

Soon you can be whipping up all kinds of pillows.

I am going to start working on some Christmas ones next.

And pillowcases for my grand-daughters too.

Here is one I made for Addison.

And I just finished one for Calista as well.

Take care friends,

Cindy